My name is Kyna Kool and I’m an artist and freelance photographer from Washington DC. Photography has been my way of sharing my view and narrative with the world, while also providing a platform for others to do the same. The work I do is intentionally made to empower my subjects, my community and to tell the truth. I’ve had the pleasure of shooting for major publications throughout the US such as The Washington Post, The Fader, Bloomberg Business, Dazed, People’s Magazine, and more. I’m also the founder of a co-working art space called Golden Studios. Our goal is to provide resources for artists and businesses within our community to thrive. We’ve hosted art shows, workshops, and Pop Ups and we also provide membership for creators to have space and equipment to make and share work of their own.
I got into NFTS after first discovering it in early 2021. I had been hearing the word buzzing around online and eventually, I was able to tune in to a webinar provided by Black Women Photographers (BWP), where photographers Diana Sinclair and Lauren Washington gave an in-depth introduction to NFTs and how they were able to navigate the space. That was my first real introduction to NFTs. After hearing them, I kind of just let that information sit for a while because I’m not one to hop on trends. It was just something I didn’t understand at all at first but because I was already in the crypto space it wasn’t hard for me to foresee that this technology could be revolutionary, especially for me as an artist. Time went on and I kept hearing about it throughout the year until I finally decided ok I‘m going to really give this a try. BWP created this community with a vast amount of resources consisting of other women so it made that entry point a bit more possible for me. Brittany Pierre, who is also a member of BWP and has had major success in the NFT space, gave me and others our first invites to Foundation. So I spent more months just sitting on that and doing research. Eventually, I bought a course on Tokenomics from 19keys, who is an amazing thought leader, educator, and innovator. In his class, he provided strategies and real-life use cases on how people can implement NFTs into their businesses. His course gave me the confidence to understand the role NFTs can play in my brand as an artist.
After doing more research I decided to hop on Twitter because that was where the majority of the NFT community was. I never was a big Twitter, Clubhouse, or Discord person, so it was all new to me but I took the chance and began joining in rooms and listening in on the conversations. The very first room I was in was hosted by Logik, an NFT artist from Chicago. I nervously introduced myself not knowing what to expect but everyone was so friendly and helpful. I was given some great resources and feedback from that room on how to create a successful project for myself. I began to hop in rooms more frequently and started making more connections. That paired with Youtube, I finally felt ready to put my collection together.
I knew this was something that I wanted to get involved with because as a Black women artist from the hood, I already saw just from being in spaces that once again there was a lack of representation for folks like me. Not to mention Black women artists, in general, are disproportionately underrepresented in the gallery and museum world, so we need to create opportunities for ourselves to be seen and get recognition. I saw this as a way to create a platform where my work can be appreciated and collected, allowing me the funding to make more work.
Being a professional freelance photographer for the past 5 years, I’ve had my work published, licensed to libraries, books, and films, and sold to collectors. I never had a way of tracking what is being done with my work after the fact. So I enjoy the economic benefits of collecting royalties which means I can create a stream of income for myself and my family for generations. It also allows me to build an economy with my consumers, so now it's not just them buying from me but also me reinvesting back into them by rewarding them for being a part of my community. I see this space as a way for me to take back my power as an artist and truly build wealth.
With my genesis collection, I decided to start from the beginning with some of my earliest work. I titled the collection, ‘Ode to the Hood”, which is my way of paying homage to the people, places, and experiences, which made me who I am today. The collection consists of Polaroids I took within my city in 2018. I speak on some of my experiences as a youth being systematically oppressed and the limiting environment that shatters a lot of our dreams. I wanted it to reflect the voice of the communities that I feel are often left behind in spaces and revolutions like this. I want people to be able to identify themselves in my work so that they understand it's cool to be knowledgeable and want to learn or exist in environments that you are not used to. I want to be a reminder that as long as you are willing to educate and empower yourself there is a way out of your circumstances.
The collection officially launches Thursday, May 26, 2022. This collection consists of 10 1/1 NFTs at affordable prices. I wanted to make sure that everyone can feel a part of my journey in this space as I continue to grow and share my art. I hope to use this opportunity as a way to introduce more people to the work I am doing and also educate people about this new technology on how to get involved and the possibilities it presents for the future. You can check out my collection on Opensea and don’t forget to share.
